So, I'm fascinated with this thread. As a mature adult (at least by age ), if I wanted to start reading this series/associated books, where should I start?

I've never read the books or watched the TV show at all, but I'm fascinated by the life on the early prairie.

Suggestions?

I'm curious about what the others think. I read them all in chronological order, over a year or so.

Start with the original and the best- Little House on the Big Woods. Then read all the rest of LIW's books, then a few of the non-fiction accounts of her life and times, and some of the writing that she and Rose did. I've got a book, edited by Roger Lea McBride, that has exerpts of her newspaper writings and some of Rose's short stories (including the most frightening ghost story I've ever read!). Unhappily, its title escapes me and my shelves are a mess; when I find it I'll post the title.

I reread the Little House stories often, and I'm so pleased that my Laura is getting into reading the Little House books. Her reading is still patchy though, she came up to me waving Little House on the Prairie and asked me to "please read me Little House on the Pirate Ship?"

I have a lot of the spin-off ones- the Scotland series and the Boston ones as well. They are very obviously written by modern authors. I far prefer the original works.

They all look much older, I would assume that was taken several years after Laura married?

Remember that all the women are wearing corsets - so a "female figure" might be a matter of a corset forcing a "waist" and the extra clothing padding out at the level of the hips and bust. Or it could be that the photo was taken later, during a family visit and Grace was a little older. Laura and Almonzo did not move to Missouri for a couple of years - it could have been taken just before they left, possibly while Almonzo was out of town, looking at properties, then coming back for Laura and Rose. Is there any kind of date attributed to the photo?

Laura, Almanzo, and Rose moved to Minnesota and stayed with the senior Wilders for a few months, then moved to Florida in hopes that Almanzo would be healthier there. I think they lived there for a year or so, but Laura couldn't take the heat, so they moved back to DeSmet. It was then that they moved to Missouri, hoping to find a place warm enough for Almanzo and cool enough for Laura.

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"The Universe puts us in places where we can learn. They are never easy places, but they are right. Wherever we are, it's the right place and the right time. Pain that sometimes comes is part of the process of constantly being born." - Delenn to Sheridan: "Babylon 5 - Distant Star"

Incidentally, pioneergirlproject.org is one of the vaguely-official LIW websites, since the editors of such are currently annotating and assembling Mrs. Wilder's diaries into a memoir, for publication in June. SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!

Also, the show. The show...man, that show went right off the rails from the start (drinking game for Charles removing his shirt and meddling in everyone's business would leave us all on the floor within two episodes), but the movie/extended pilot episode followed the early story, post-Big Woods, fairly accurately.

Laura, Almanzo, and Rose moved to Minnesota and stayed with the senior Wilders for a few months, then moved to Florida in hopes that Almanzo would be healthier there. I think they lived there for a year or so, but Laura couldn't take the heat, so they moved back to DeSmet. It was then that they moved to Missouri, hoping to find a place warm enough for Almanzo and cool enough for Laura.

The original series is wonderful in the way the books mature with Laura. My favorites are The Long Winter and Little Town on the Prairie. I'm in my thirties and I still reread all the books every five years or so. The Happy Golden Years is a wonderful ending to her childhood family and beginning to her life with Almanzo. Laura's life had a lot more to it but I love the stories she wrote so much.

What's a good biography to read these days? I haven't read one on her since high school. If I could meet Laura at any age, I wish it would have been when she was 25. Can you imagine chatting with her about her little girl and the early years of her married life?

I also say start with "Little House in the Big Woods" and read the Laura books in order. Some of the titles are pretty similar, but if read in order they follow Laura as she gets older. "Farmer Boy" is a departure as it focuses on Almanzo's childhood, so it can be read at any point; I think I read it last. They are definitely more geared towards children, especially Big Woods; I think I read it in maybe second or third grade, with my class. But as Laura matures the books mature as well, and as others have said "The First Four Years" is more adult-oriented, though fairly tame compared to modern adult stuff certainly.

I've never read "On the Way Home," "West from Home," "Old Town in the Green Groves," or "A Little House Traveler"--is anyone familiar with them? Is there a reason why they aren't included in the "standard" boxed-set series, or am I the remiss one? (They're mentioned on a Wikipedia page for the series.)

For me, the standard series is: Big Woods, House-Prairie, Plum Creek, Silver Lake, Long Winter, Town-Prairie, Golden Years, and First Four Years, plus Farmer Boy.

Groves was based on Laura's notes- she didn't write it, Cynthia Rylant did, so it doesn't get counted. Also, it was written much later- it came out in 2002. The other books aren't usually considered children's books- they're aimed at adults.

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If wisdom’s ways you wisely seek,Five things observe with care,To whom you speak,Of whom you speak,And how, and when, and where.Caroline Lake Ingalls

I also say start with "Little House in the Big Woods" and read the Laura books in order. Some of the titles are pretty similar, but if read in order they follow Laura as she gets older. "Farmer Boy" is a departure as it focuses on Almanzo's childhood, so it can be read at any point; I think I read it last. They are definitely more geared towards children, especially Big Woods; I think I read it in maybe second or third grade, with my class. But as Laura matures the books mature as well, and as others have said "The First Four Years" is more adult-oriented, though fairly tame compared to modern adult stuff certainly.

I've never read "On the Way Home," "West from Home," "Old Town in the Green Groves," or "A Little House Traveler"--is anyone familiar with them? Is there a reason why they aren't included in the "standard" boxed-set series, or am I the remiss one? (They're mentioned on a Wikipedia page for the series.)

For me, the standard series is: Big Woods, House-Prairie, Plum Creek, Silver Lake, Long Winter, Town-Prairie, Golden Years, and First Four Years, plus Farmer Boy.

I have both of these . OTWH is Laura's diary of the journey from De Smet to Mansfield, MO. WFH is set much later, when Laura was 48 and traveled to San Francisco to visit Rose and to attend the World's Fair-like event that summer (I know it's called something else). San Francisco had bid to hold it and even the 1906 earthquake didn't stop them .